1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a substantially pure thermostable DNA polymerase. Specifically, the DNA polymerase of the present invention is a Thermotoga neapolitana DNA polymerase having a molecular weight of about 100 kilodaltons. The present invention also relates to cloning and expression of the Thermotoga neapolitana DNA polymerase in E. coli, to DNA molecules containing the cloned gene, and to hosts which express said genes. The DNA polymerase of the present invention may be used in DNA sequencing and amplification reactions.
2. Background Information
DNA polymerases synthesize the formation of DNA molecules which are complementary to a DNA template. Upon hybridization of a primer to the single-stranded DNA template, polymerases synthesize DNA in the 5xe2x80x2 to 3xe2x80x2 direction, successively adding nucleotides to the 3xe2x80x2-hydroxyl group of the growing strand. Thus, in the presence of deoxyribonucleoside triphosphates (dNTPs) and a primer, a new DNA molecule, complementary to the single stranded DNA template, can be synthesized.
A number of DNA polymerases have been isolated from mesophilic microorganisms such as E. coli. A number of these mesophilic DNA polymerases have also been cloned. Lin et al. cloned and expressed T4 DNA polymerase in E. coli (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 84:7000-7004 (1987)). Tabor et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,795,699) describes a cloned T7 DNA polymerase, while Minkley et al. (J. Biol. Chem. 259:10386-10392 (1984)) and Chatterjee (U.S. Pat. No. 5,047,342) described E. coli DNA polymerase I and cloning of T5 DNA polymerase, respectively.
Although DNA polymerases from thermophiles are known, relatively little investigation has been done to isolate and even clone these enzymes. Chien et al., J. Bacteriol. 127:1550-1557 (1976) describe a purification scheme for obtaining a polymerase from Thermus aquaticus. The resulting protein had a molecular weight of about 63,000 daltons by gel filtration analysis and 68,000 daltons by sucrose gradient centrifugation. Kaledin et al., Biokhymiya 45:644-51 (1980) disclosed a purification procedure for isolating DNA polymerase from T. aquaticus YET1 strain. The purified enzyme was reported to be a 62,000 dalton monomeric protein. Gelfand et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,889,818) cloned a gene encoding a thermostable DNA polymerase from Thermus aquaticus. The molecular weight of this protein was found to be about 86,000 to 90,000 daltons.
Simpson et al. purified and partially characterized a thermostable DNA polymerase from a Thermotoga species (Biochem. Cell. Biol. 86:1292-1296 (1990)). The purified DNA polymerase isolated by Simpson et al. exhibited a molecular weight of 85,000 daltons as determined by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and size-exclusion chromatography. The enzyme exhibited half-lives of 3 minutes at 95xc2x0 C. and 60 minutes at 50xc2x0 C. in the absence of substrate and its pH optimum was in the range of pH 7.5 to 8.0. Triton X-100 appeared to enhance the thermostability of this enzyme. The strain used to obtain the thermostable DNA polymerase described by Simpson et al. was Thermotoga species strain FjSS3-B.1 (Hussar et al., FEMS Microbiology Letters 37:121-127 (1986)). Other DNA polymerases have been isolated from thermophilic bacteria including Bacillus steraothermophilus (Stenesh et al., Biochim. iochys. Acta 272:156-166 (1972); and Kaboev et al., J. Bacteriol. 145:21-26 (1981)) and several archaetsipecies (Rossi et al., System. Appl. Microbiol. 7:337-341 (196); Klimczak et al., Biochemistry 25:48504855 (1986); and Elie et al., Eur. J. Biochem. 178:619-626 (1989)). The most extensively purified archaebacterial DNA polymerase had a reported half-life of 15 minutes at 87xc2x0 C. (Elie et al. (1989), supra). Innis et al., In PCR Protocol: A Guide To Methods and Amplification, Academic Press, Inc., San Diego (1990) noted that there are several extreme thermophilic eubacteria and archaebacteria that are capable of growth at very high temperatures (Bergquist et al., Biotech. Genet. Eng. Rev. 5:199-244 (1987); and Kelly et al., Biotechnol Prog. 4:47-62 (1988)) and suggested that these organisms may contain very thermostable DNA polymerases.
The present invention is directed to a thermostable DNA polymerase having a molecular weight of about 100 kilodaltons. More specifically, the DNA polymerase of the invention is isolated from Thernotoga neapolitana (Tne). The Thernotoga species preferred for isolating the DNA polymerase of the present invention was isolated from an African continental solfataric spring (Windberger et al., Arch. Microbiol. 151. 506-512, (1989)).
The Tne DNA polymerase of the present invention is extremely thermostable, showing more than 50% of activity after being heated for 60 minutes at 90xc2x0 C. with or without detergent. Thus, the DNA polymerase of the present invention is more thermostable than Taq DNA polymerase.
The present invention is also directed to cloning a gene encoding a Thermotoga neapolitana DNA polymerase enzyme. DNA molecules containing the Tne DNA polymerase gene, according to the present invention, can be transformed and expressed in a host cell to produce a Tne DNA polymerase having a molecular weight of 100 kilodaltons. Any number of hosts may be used to express the Thermotoga DNA polymerase gene of the present invention; including prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. Preferably, prokaryotic cells are used to express the DNA polymerase of the invention. The preferred prokaryotic hosts according to the present invention is E. coli. 
The Tne DNA polymerase of the invention may be used in well known DNA sequencing (dideoxy DNA sequencing, cycle DNA sequencing of plasmid DNAs, etc.) and DNA amplification reactions.